Golf-club.



" AState of California,

CHARLES A. ROLFE, OF REDLANDS, CALFORNIA.

To dll fw hom it may concern.

.Be itkiiovvn that I ,CHARLEs A,'Roi.rn, a citizen of 'he UnitedStates,-residing atRedlands, in the county of San 'Bernardinmrk have invented. new and. i

. useful llmproveinents inr ,Golf-Clubs, of

y requirements.

i tion is the s atively light AWeight; ball ina `gaine which is; I accomplish bek adjusted by'. ha

Whieh'the following is a specitication.,A

This invention relates4 to an adjustable golf club; andthe kinvention 'consists in the provision of means for allov'vingr the rclulo to A be easily andquiclrly adjusted` toy suit yany @ne of the primary features of the invenmeans for `edec'ting the vpurpose of adjust ability of the blade with vreference to the 'shaft of theelnb; and other provide'a means which, although easily ad* justablevvithout releasing any of the parts, will not be forced out "in'g the ball, the

objects are to of'1')ositi `)n in strik` invention being; intended for use in a; club designed for strilringn rel played A1n a restricted areal, these objects, and various others hereinafter noted, by means a frictional joint between the blade or head and thesha-ft, the amount of. friction being? provided that will securely hold the head in any setpositionbvt will allow the head to d without the loosening or remova-lfof anyparts. This is the primal feature oi' niyifrvention; there areother fea* tures subsidiaifyto this leading feature and there are vseveral specificy constructions-Y Which my invention may take, all emhodyj infr vthe funda-mental feature of frictional adtiustment of theihead. f In the following specification I describe two dierent forms of device, and from these 'descriptions my .invention vwill he apparenti accompanying drawings, in which; K i

Figure ll is ay vieWjshovving/a. preferred ,ferm of goll"l clubefafter invention.Fig. `2

isan enlarged view ofthelower end/of the shaft and blade or head oftheclub; Fign is an end View of the same.

tail showing the spring` vvasherfused in'my preferred form of device. tional detail showing; a modified form ,of joint between the hladeandr shaft.

shall iirst speclfcally'describe the `tivo forms 'of .chib-` shownin the drawingsand provision ofi a simple andf'eilcient ustedto anydesired angle; so 'may he thrown of a construction including y I' also illustrate these forms in thee Figld isa. seo? position; vThe strength tional' detail showing' the jointbetween' the' blade and shaft. Fig. 5 Aisa penspectiye de- Figi. L6 iS fr seev v Specification of Letters Patent.; Patel'ited July 11, 1916 Application merengue e, i914. f-sr'iai No. 855,374. e 'l i then draw attention'to their similarities and variati'onss,,l l y Y i In the drawings the numeral 10 mayy designatetheshaft of thetlp and on'the lower 'endl of the shaftfan'd forming -part athereof, thereis the shaft end 11.l

To all intents and purposes, sofar as my invention isconcerned, the parts' 10 and 11 may be considered as asingle part, designated generally as the shaft. The shaft end llfhason its lower end a boss l2 havinga transverse tapered bore 13, best shown in Fig. d. In

bore is slight, for reasons hereinaftennoted. Thisboss l2 alsocarries` two stop lugs 14 which limit the angle of adjustment of. the blade l5, the ypart 15"L @f the blade being adapted to strike the stop' lugs' 14 when the vblade isthrownrto either one side or the K other, as is shown 1n Fig; 3; i Between these may he adf that thebla-de to' either rone side or the limitingy positions, the blade l taper'is somewhat exaggerated; in ,the usual constructionthe taper-'of the lother ,ofthe line of the,l shaft tor adapt the f elulo vfor play either by a right hande'dor a left handedperson; andthe `blade may. also' he adjustedto rany ing, `letting and puttingtetc.v j

Theblade-l has on itsy innerr enda tacloselyr into the tapered boreA 13. .Near its outer end shank 20 "and the outer Wall of thisgroov desired angle for driv f `peredshank 20 `which fits accurately and groovelis cut around the "sof A smallspring Washer25 ofy the conigu'ra-\` y' tion shown in Figs. 4 and 5 ris placed around the sha-nk QOaroimd-the groove 21 so that theinneredgfe 25 ofthe Washer seats-under,

the oterhanging wall QB of the groeven thefebyrfeviltins accidental removal of vthe Washer.-y 4

The taper of the borefland the shank20A is suchy that 'a pressure s'ueh as can `he exerted hylthe hand will `press the shank into fion the here` to".f1`.sufficientlyV tight that the blade-,cannot easily bemoved out of Yany'set.`

'of the Washer'isalso such that it willho'ld ,the ta-r pered shank inthe tapered rboreuand will not allowthe shank to he worked out/ of bore by ,K rrepeated adjustments oftheengul'ar position of the blade-15'. vvItis not intendedthatthe spring 25 be' used primarily for pressing-'the spring I* /3 '11o' sh'aSnlfQO into the initial properl position 1n the bor'el; althoughthe spring action willused; as in my rame of lawn golf.

the shank is turned back and forth in the bore to adjust the position of the blade 15. The blade is held fairly tightly in place,

but notso tightly that it eannot be adjusted by hand whenever desired; yet the frietional ei'tg'agement of the shank in the bore is sullieient to prevent the blade l5 from be ine' displaced from any set position by. striking the ball. lh I amount of t'rietion may be regulated by the amount of the taper of the bore and shank and also b v the character olIA the metals used. I limi bronzelon bronze to be a very good eoinbination: although, of eourse.` other metals may be used. i

l lind that I ran dispense with the springlr washer entirely without destroving` the usefulness oi my elub. Although the spring is usel'ul in the manner indieated ro prevent the shank working' out by repeated adjustments. l lind that there is veryr little tendeney ol the shank to work out under average ronditions ol play. Thus` l may use Asimply a pin or the like on the end of the shank merely to prevent the. shank and blade being' eompletely disengaged from the head.

ln the foregoing deseribed form frietion is obtained ou a taper joint. I now deseribe a form in whirh t'l'ietion is obtained on flat lliaees. in Fie. the shat't end 1l" has z boss l2 with a bore 1I!" theretln'ounh. The blade l5 may havx a boss 5() in whieh a l'rietion llangre lll is set if the metal ot the blade is not ot' the best hind for this purpose. hor inslaneta where the blade, is of aluminum l may use a bronze f'lanjre 3l, whieh will fare against one laee :il of the boss 1:21. serew '3:2 passes through the bore 1151 and serews into the flangeI 31; and a springr washer $33 is eonlined under the head ol the sei-ew against the t'aee 3l ot' the The serew may be set up to any desired tightness. and a pin 35 then plaeed ina drill hole through the boss Ill), the flange ll and the serew` to hold the serew from bai-kine: up. '.lhis lorm ot' elub is very sat* isiaelory. esperially where light balls are The. ta-

pered shank form is less liable to displaeement in striking as the frietinal engagement in that form is sufficient to hohl the blade very solidly. 1

As will appear from the foregoing detailed description, the primaryY feature of my golf club is its frictional joint between the shaft i ment of the blade without the removal or the loosening,r of any parts. This freely adjustable joint is the feature I wish to broadly secure to myself', not limiting my invention to the speeilie details shown and described which may be varied to meet eonditions.

Having;r deseribed my invention, I claim:

1. In a lawn golf elnh, a shaft having a blade earrying member at its lower end with a bore therethroi1gb4` a blade with a shank litting said bore and engaging,y the blade earryinp; member exelusively frietionally, and

resilient means for drawinglr the shank into its trietional engagement with said member, whereby the`blade may be turned against the restraint ot' said frictional engagement without loosening said means, substantially as deseribed.

2. In a lawn golf club. a shaft having a blade .carrying member at its; lower end with a taper bore therethrough, a blade with a taper shank adapted to lit said taper bore. and m Aans for holding, said` shank in said bore. embodying' exclusively a resilient m aus tor drawingr said shank into said bore, whereby said shank and blade are restrained exelusively frietionally against turning about the axis of the shank with reference to the blade earuving n'iember. substantially as deseribed. i

I-l, In a lawn golf elub. a shaft llayinn a blade earryingr membe' at itslower und; a blade havingr i shank engaging the blade fanviner member and having a surface adapted to exelusively frietionally engage said member. and resilient meansfor drawiner said surfaee into trietional engagement with said member.

In witness that l elaim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my name this 31st day of July 1914;

CHARLES A. RULFF. Witnesses @Limmen ROLL,

lV. H. Pinnen.

and blade allowingr free adjust;-` 

